Sounds like a page out of the past, but policing observers say it could be the future of trusting relationships between police and the public as Ontario moves to effectively ban carding on Jan. 1.

Carding is when police arbitrarily stop people for questioning, who aren’t under arrest or investigation — a tactic many people find offensive, especially racial minorities who say they’ve felt targeted.

Starting Jan. 1, Ontario is imposing new rules for police on so-called street checks, including that people stopped be told why their information is sought and that they’re under no obligation to answer.

With that pivot, police should re-focus on community policing, one former London officer says.

“If we were to shift to more community-based policing, we’d be able to forge more lasting relationships with communities in need of assistance,” said Lesley Bikos, now a PhD candidate in sociology with a focus on policing culture.

“Police would build better relationships built on trust that would get them the intelligence-gathering they think that carding is gathering,” she said, adding “the problem with unlawful carding is you have a one-time interaction with a person who now feels violated and that relationship is severed.”

As an officer, Bikos said she found carding useful to gather information. She said she sympathizes with officers on the street who feel besieged by calls to stop a practice they believe helps stop crime, but carding isn’t worth the social cost, especially in disadvantaged neighbourhoods where research shows people want to help police but not if they don’t trust them.

City council has asked London police to scrap carding entirely, but the force plans to continue street checks under the new provincial rules. Figures have shown London police have been carding at rates far higher than some other big-city police forces, including those in Ottawa and Hamilton.

It’s “a crucial time for police public relations” in London, and “the province is watching,” Bikos said.

An element of community policing — police foot patrols in downtown London — were backed by a business petition this year supporting the addition of two officers to the 12 who now walk or cycle the beat.

Doing that in every dense neighbourhood would take time and money, “but that investment is worth it,” said Bikos, who left the force eight years ago.

In London, activists opposed to carding say they’re not against community policing, but want an end to police arbitrarily stopping people who may not know their rights in such interactions.

Police say street checks lead to information that can help future investigations.

Bikos said that while carding can help connect dots leading to suspects, it’s unconstitutional if people are effectively being “psychologically detained,” because they aren’t aware of their rights.

“We have to stop arguing about whether it’s useful. It doesn’t matter. It’s unlawful,” she said.

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